Gaston Litton was born in Granite, Oklahoma, in an area that had once been known as the old Chickasaw Nation. There he developed a keen interest in Oklahoma’s Native American heritage and in the lives of the state’s pioneer settlers. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma and received his doctorate from Georgetown University before becoming a professor of history and special lecturer, as well as Archivist at the University of Oklahoma in 1948. Early in his career he served as librarian at the National University of Panama, director-librarian at the America Library of Nicaragua, and technical consultant to the State Library in Brazil in 1953. He founded the School of Library Science at the National University of Panama and became a special field representative for the National Archives in 1941. He is the co-author or author of many important historical works including Cherokee Cavaliers (1939) and Oklahoma – A Guide to Materials in the National Archives (1951).